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<h1>なんでやねん！</h1>

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<center><span class="summary">Outline</span></center>
<ol>
<li><a href="#part1">Kansai Dialect</a></li>
<li><a href="#part2">Negative Verbs using 「へん」</a></li>
<li><a href="#part3">あかん -> いけない</a></li>
<li><a href="#part4">Using 「であろう」 to express likelihood</a></li>
<li><a href="#part5">Using 「かろう」 to express volition for 「い」 endings</a></li>
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<h2 id="part1">Kansai Dialect</h2>
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kansai"関西 (Kansai)</a> is a region of Japan that includes some of the largest cities in Japan such as 大阪 (Osaka), and 京都 (Kyoto). While there are many dialects with distinct characteristics within that region, <a href="http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%96%A2%E8%A5%BF%E5%BC%81">関西弁</a> is often used to roughly describe the dialect of that entire region based mostly on 大阪弁 (Osaka dialect). 関西弁 is one of the most widely-used dialects in Japanese, second only to the standard (Tokyo) dialect. While standard Japanese is understood everywhere in Japan, you're going to eventually have to become at least somewhat familiar with 関西弁 in order to understand a large portion of the Japanese population either in the media or in real life. In fact, while all Japanese native speakers may not be able to <i>speak</i> in 関西弁, they all understand it to a certain degree.

<p>There are four major types of differences in the language that makes up a dialect: grammar, sentence endings, vocabulary, and pitches. In this section, we will take a look at the major differences in grammar, sentence endings, and vocabulary. This will be enough to understand most of the dialect. However, in order to actually speak the dialect, you need to master all the differences in pitches, which is beyond the scope of this text.</p>

<p>The differences in pitches are what really gives 関西弁 its distinct flavor and characteristic. For example, if you said, 「ありがとう」 in the standard dialect, you would raise and lower the pitch on the 「り」 like so: 「<u>あ</u>/<span class="overline">り</span>&#92;<u>がとう</u>」. However, in 関西弁, you would raise the pitch on the last 「とう」 like so: 「<u>ありが</u>/<span class="overline">とう</span>」. While understanding 関西弁 is not too difficult, if you want to speak the dialect like a true local, you need to train yourself to speak with the different tones and pitches by mimicking people who speak the dialect. However, I strongly recommend maintaining your standard Japanese as well because, after all, it is the standard language.</p>

<h2 id="part2">Common Vocabulary in the Kansai Dialect</h2>
Let's first look at some vocabulary more commonly used in the Kansai dialect. We are going to become familiar with the Kansai version of some of the most common vocabulary so that we can recognize it when it is used by Kansai speakers. Given below is a table of some of the most common words in the Kansai dialect and the equivalent in the standard dialect.

<br /><br />
<center>
<table border="1" cellpadding="5">
<tr>
<th>Kansai</th><th>Standard</th>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>ええ</td><td>いい</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>ほんま</td><td>本当</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>ちゃう</td><td>違う</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>しんどい</td><td>つらい</td>
</tr>

</table>
</center>

<p>While the meaning of the word of each version is the same dialects, it is important to note that they are not the same grammatically. In fact, in many cases, vocabulary particular to a dialect can only be used as is and cannot be conjugated into other forms such as the negative or past tense.</p>

<h2 id="part2">Negative Verbs using 「へん」</h2>
One of the biggest differences betweem 関西弁 and the standard dialect is the negative tense of verbs for casual speech. Basically, the 「ない」 ending of the
verb is replaced by 「へん」. For the past tense, 「なかった」 becomes 「へんかった」. Here is a simple chart outlining the difference.

<br /><br />

<center>
<table border="1" cellpadding="5">
<caption>Negative verbs in 関西弁</caption>
<tr align="center"><td></td><th>標準語</th><th>関西弁</th></tr>
<tr align="center"><td><b>Non-Past</b></td><td><span title="わかる - to understand" class="popup">わからない</span></td><td><span title="わかる - to understand" class="popup">わから<em>へん</em></span></td></tr>
<tr align="center"><td><b>Past</b></td><td><span title="わかる - to understand" class="popup">わからなかった</span></td><td><span title="わかる - to understand" class="popup">わから<em>へんかった</em></span></td></tr>
</table>
</center>

The regular exceptions verbs 「する」 and 「くる」 becomes 「せえへん」 and 「こおへん」. The negative past is quite simple as it is identical to the negative but with 「かった」 attached to the end.

<div class="sumbox">
<span class="summary">Using Negative Verbs in 関西弁</span>
<ul>
<li>For the negative, replace 「ない」 with 「へん」
<br />例）　食べ<em>る</em> → 食べ<em>ない</em> → 食べ<em>へん</em>
<br />例）　わか<em>る</em> → わから<em>ない</em> → わから<em>へん</em></li>
<br />
<li>For the negative past tense, add 「かった」 to 「へん」
<br />例）　食べ<em>る</em> → 食べ<em>ない</em> → 食べ<em>へん</em> → 食べへん<em>かった</em>
<br />例）　わか<em>る</em> → わから<em>ない</em> → わから<em>へん</em> → わからへん<em>かった</em></li>
<br />
<li>Exception Verbs: negative
<br />例）　する → <em>せえへん</em>
<br />例）　くる → <em>こおへん</em>
<br />例）　ある → <em>あらへん</em>
<br />例）　いる → <em>いやへん</em></li>
<br />
<li>Exception Verbs: negative past (just add かった to the negative)
<br />例）　する → <em>せえへん</em> → せえへん<em>かった</em>
<br />例）　くる → <em>こおへん</em> → こおへん<em>かった</em>
<br />例）　ある → <em>あらへん</em> → あらへん<em>かった</em>
<br />例）　いる → <em>いやへん</em> → いやへん<em>かった</em></li>
</ul>
</div>

<h3>Examples</h3>

<p>
（１）　相手は剣の達人だ。そう簡単には<em>勝てまい</em>。
<br /> - Your opponent is a master of the sword. I doubt you can win so easily.
</p>

<p>
（２）　そんな無茶な手段は<em>認めますまい</em>！
<br /> - I won't approve of such an unreasonable method！
</p>


<p>
We already learned that you can use the volitional form <a href="desire.html#part4">to say, "lets"</a> and <a href="try.html#part3">to express an attempt do
something</a>.  But that doesn't mean you can use the negative volitional to say "let's not". Also, while you <b>can</b> use it as an attempt to
not do something, people just use <a href="surunaru.html#part4">「ようにする」</a> unless they wanted to sound old-fashioned. The tone of this grammar
carries a very strong determination to not do something, as you'll see in the examples.
</p>

<p>
（１）　その時までは決し彼に<em>会うまい</em>と心に決めていた。
<br /> - Until that time, I had decided in my heart to not meet him by any means.
</p>

<p>
（２）　あの人は、二度と嘘を<em>つくまい</em>と誓ったのです。
<br /> - That person had sworn to never lie again.
</p>

<h2 id="part3">Using the volitional to express a lack of caring</h2>

で -> よ
わ
どってでもええで

We will now learn a grammar that's actually practical for everyday use using the negative volitional grammar. Basically, we can use both
volitional and negative volitional forms to say it doesn't matter whether something is going to happen or not. This is done by attaching
「が」 to both the volitional and the negative volitional form of the verb that doesn't matter.

<div class="sumbox">
<span class="summary">Using the volitional to express a lack of relation</span>
<ul>
<li>Attach 「が」 to the volitional and negative volitional form of the verb.
<br />例）　見る → 見<em>よう</em>、見<em>まい</em> → 見よう<em>が</em>見まい<em>が</em>
<br />例）　食べる → 食べ<em>よう</em>、食べる<em>まい</em> → 食べよう<em>が</em>食べるまい<em>が</em>
</li>
</ul>
</div>

<h3>Examples</h3>
<p>
（１）　あいつが大学に<em>入ろうが入るまい</em>が、俺とは関係ないよ。
<br /> - Whether that guy is going to college or not, it has nothing to do with me.
</p>
<p>（２）　時間が<em>あろうがあるまい</em>が、間に合わせるしかない。
<br /> - Whether there is time or not, there's nothing to do but make it on time.
</p>
<p>（３）　最近のウィルスは強力で、プログラムを<em>実行しようがしまいが</em>、ページを見るだけで感染するらしい。
<br /> - The viruses lately have been strong and whether you run a program or not, I hear it will spread just by looking at the page.
</p>

<h2 id="part4">Using 「であろう」 to express likelihood</h2>

http://www.shurey.com/Kansai/

We already found out that the negative volitional can be used as kind of a formal version of
<a href="certainty.html#part3">「でしょう」</a> and <a href="certainty.html#part4">「だろう」</a>. You may wonder, how would you do the same thing for
the volitional? The answer is to conjugate the verb 「ある」 from the <a href="formal.html#part2">formal state of being</a> 「である」 to the volitional to
produce 「であろう」. Remember 「でしょう」 can already be used as a polite form, so this form is even a step above that in formality. We'll see what
kind of language uses this form in the examples.

<div class="sumbox">
<span class="summary">Using 「であろう」 to express likelihood</span>
<ul>
<li>Attach 「であろう」 to the noun, adjective, or verb.
<br />例） 困難 → 困難<em>であろう</em>
<br />例） する → する<em>であろう</em></li>
</ul>
</div>

<h3>Examples</h3>
<p>
（１）　今後50年、人間が直面<em>するであろう</em>問題に正面から向き合って、自ら解決をはかりつつ、そのノウハウが次の産業となるシナリオを考えたい。(from <a href="http://www.jkokuryo.com/papers/online/20020107.htm">www.jkokuryo.com</a>)
<br /> - I would like to directly approach problems that humans have <em>likely encounter</em> the next 50 years and while measuring solutions, take that knowledge and think about scenarios that will become the next industry.
</p>


<p>
（２）　もちろん、生徒数減少の現在、学科の新設は<em>困難であろう</em>が、職業科の統廃合や科内コースの改編などで時代に合わせた変革が求められているはずである。(from <a href="http://www1.normanet.ne.jp/~ww100114/library/li-01.htm">www1.normanet.ne.jp</a>)
<br /> - Of course, new educational facilities will <em>likely be difficult</em> with this period of decreasing student population but with reorganizations of subjects and courses within subjects, there is supposed to be demand for reform fit for this period.
</p>

<h2 id="part5">Using 「かろう」 as volitional for 「い」 endings</h2>
We learned in the <a href="formal.html#part3">lesson about formal grammar</a> that 「ではない」 was the negative of 「である」. So how would we say something like
「であろう」 but for the negative tense? The answer is to use yet another type of volitional for negative tenses and i-adjectives used only in formal and literary contexts.
You may remember that 「だろう」 could only be used for nouns and na-adjectives. You can think of this grammar as a very old-fashioned version for
i-adjectives and negative 「い」 endings.

<p>The conjugation rule is simple: remove the last 「い」 and attach 「かろう」. You can use it for negative tenses and i-adjectives just like the 「かった」 past conjugation
form.
</p>

<div class="sumbox">
<span class="summary">Using 「かろう」 to express volition for 「い」 endings</span>
<ul>
<li>Drop the last 「い」 and attach 「かろう」
<br />例）　ではな<em><strike>い</strike></em> → ではな<em>かろう</em>
<br />例）　早<em><strike>い</strike></em> → 早<em>かろう</em>
</li>
</ul>
</div>

<h3>Examples</h3>
<p>
（１）　どんな商品でもネットで販売するだけで売上が伸びるというもの<em>ではなかろう</em>。(from <a href="http://http://www.kojii.net/opinion/col010205.html">www.kojii.net</a>)
<br /> - It's not necessarily the case that sales go up just by selling any type of product on the net.
</p>

<p>
（２）　運動を始めるのが<em>早かろう</em>が<em>遅かろう</em>が、健康にいいというのは変わりません。
<br /> - Whether you start exercising early or late, the fact that it's good for you health doesn't change.
</p>

<p>
（３）　休日で<em>あろう</em>が、<em>なかろう</em>が、この仕事では関係ないみたい。
<br /> - Whether it's a holiday or not, it looks like it doesn't matter for this job.
</p>

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<div class="small" style="text-align:right;"><pre>This page has last been revised on 2005/4/27</pre></div>

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